


Secret Harmonies

by orphan_account



Category: Queen (Band)
Genre: Boys Kissing, Brian and John are Nerds, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Romance means building an amp together, Science Boys nerding together, some tech talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-13 08:07:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21240893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: One night, John Comes back with some junk he calls an amp. From then on, he and Brian are on a Mission to get it working again.





	Secret Harmonies

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Akichin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akichin/gifts).

> Written for the One Year BoRhap Exchange
> 
> I am not well versed in the verse of electronics, so forgive me any mistakes I might have made. I tried to keep it vague.

A dull thud woke Brian with a start. He blinked against the light coming from the hallway and slowly, he could make out John, cradling something in his arms while bending over to pick something up. 

“Deaky?” he mumbled sleepily and rubbed his eyes. 

“Shit, sorry! Go back to sleep, love.”

Brian sat up and took a closer look at his boyfriend. John set down whatever he was carrying clumsily, almost falling over in the process and he couldn’t help but chuckle. He hadn’t joined him, Roger and Freddie in going out this night because he had to get up early for his classes but if he was to guess by John’s drunken state, they managed to have fun anyways. 

He got up and grabbed John’s arm who happily leaned against him, burying his face in his neck. He smelled like alcohol and Brian wrinkled his nose slightly but pressed a kiss into his hair anyway. 

“What is that?” he asked instead, pointing at the thing on the ground. 

“It’s an amp! Found it in a bin and I’m gonna fix it for you.” 

Brian looked down at him with a confused frown but since John was already half asleep against him he decided this talk could wait until tomorrow and instead helped him out of his pants and tucked him into bed. He crawled into bed afterwards and pulled him into his arms. John sighed happily and wrapped his arm around his waist, tangling their legs together. 

  
+  
  


The next morning, Brian stumbled over the broken amp, almost crashing into their closet, cursing under his breath. He threw a quick glance over his shoulder, worrying that he had woken John but he was still asleep, snoring slightly as he lay on his stomach. A strand of his long hair was clinging to the corner of his half open mouth and Brian smiled softly. 

He squatted down to inspect the amp quickly. It looked like a mess. The back was missing, wires were sticking out of it and it smelled badly, a little bit burnt. As quietly as possible he moved it further to the side so John wouldn’t stumble over it once he woke up and then got dressed. 

Before he left for class, he placed a glass of water and two painkillers on the nightstand next to John along with a note that told him there was some yoghurt and fruits in the fridge for him. 

  
  


John had put the amp into the living room, inspecting it intensely as he ate the breakfast Brian had made him. He was wearing Brian’s clothes, the sleeves of his sweatshirt being just a little bit too long so he had to keep pushing them back. He greeted Brian with a smile and pulled him into a soft kiss when Brian was close enough to do so. 

“How are you feeling?” 

John hummed, his eyes closed and smiling, leaning up to press another kiss to his lips. 

“I’m pretty good, actually.” 

Brian tucked a strand of John’s hair behind his ear. 

“So what’s the deal with the amp? You said something about fixing it for me.” 

Immediately, John’s face brightened and he pulled back, excitedly gesturing towards the broken amp. It still looked like a mess, Brian had to admit but it looked a little bit more organized with how he had it arranged and there were notes lying around. John seemed to have a plan which made it look like there was some order to the chaos, at least. 

“I know it doesn’t look like much yet but I bet I can fix it and make it something that really brings out the sound of the Red Special and it will sound so good! I just need a couple of things and we’ll have a great addition to our sound!”

“Okay and where do you think you’ll find those things? We don’t exactly have a lot of money.” 

John smiled at him. 

  
+

“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” 

Brian was standing next to John who was standing on his tiptoes to get a good look into the dumpster. 

“I found the amp in a dumpster, I can find the spare parts in a dumpster, too.”

“I don’t think that is how that works.” 

John shot him a fond but exasperated look and Brian chuckled softly. He obediently helped him climb into the dumpster because even though he had his doubts about the success and- most importantly- how sanitary the whole thing was- probably not at all- he didn’t voice too much of his doubt. 

Instead, he busied himself with holding the flashlight so John could see anything. This really wasn’t what he had imagined their date night to work out but he couldn’t say he wasn’t having fun. It was weird, he wasn’t going to argue about that but he loved John’s enthusiasm about everything electronic and having an amp for the Red Special did sound amazing. And besides him and his dad, John was probably the only one who knew the guitar well enough to build one. 

John made a low, triumphant sound and started pulling out a bunch of cables. Brian took them to put them into the bag they had brought for exactly that reason, wiping his hand on his jeans afterwards. Gross. 

It took a lot of self restraint not to laugh at John trying to climb out of the dumpster and Brian didn’t really managed it because he swatted at him as soon as he flicked a piece of plastic off his jeans. 

“Shut up!” John hissed, cheeks red. “There are two more electronic shops I want to check out before we go home.” 

“More dumpster diving, got it.” 

John took his hand, knocking their shoulders together as he steered them into the direction of their next destination. Their fingers tangled together easily. 

  
+

They come back home late after their ‘scavenger hunt’, their bag filled with pretty much any kind of electronic pieces they could find. Both of them were cold and feeling kind of gross so they decided to take quick showers, John getting first so Brian could make them some hot chocolate. 

He knew there was still some whipped cream in the fridge and chocolate syrup from their attempts at making pancakes and he used both to top off John’s chocolate. Knowing his boyfriend had a bit of a sweet tooth, he didn’t hold back with the syrup. It was ready just in time when John came back, now dressed in a comfortable pair of pants and shirt, and he passed him the mug- getting a kiss for his troubles- before getting into the shower himself. 

When Brian came back, having also changed into more comfortable clothes, John had made him his own cup with only some whipped cream on top of it. 

They went through their things afterwards, John cataloging everything their had and what they would still need. It was too late to actually start working on the amp- not to mention they had no space for it yet- and so they went to bed instead. 

Brian rested his head on John’s chest, letting him card his fingers through his hair. John was reading, the spine of the book resting on Brian’s head so he could easily see the page but didn’t have to use his second hand a lot. 

“I’ll see if the lab has anything we can use tomorrow.” John said. 

He hummed softly in agreement, slowly being lulled to sleep.

“Thanks for coming with me today.” He went on, his fingers gently scratching along his neck. “I had fun. Despite the… whole trash thing.” 

Brian chuckled tiredly and patted John’s hip reassuringly. 

“I had fun, too. And I’ll check out the library for books about amp building. Maybe they have something.” 

“Love you.” 

“Love you, too.” 

  
+

As it turned out, the library did have a couple of books about amps and the science behind them and Brian picked a few just so they were covered and staffed out for all eventualities. 

He then made his way to the engineering faculty to fetch John for a shared lunch. 

John was actually waiting for him already, having finished class early to see if there was anything they could use- which there wasn’t, sadly, but they could work around that. They made their way to the mensa, hands brushing against each other as they couldn’t hold hands in public but they were as close as they could without drawing unwanted attention. 

“I found some books.” Brian told him as they were waiting in line. “I don’t know how much use they will be.” 

“That’s great! I was thinking about getting some tarpaulin to we can work at the table without dirtying it up.” 

Brian grabbed some of the steamed vegetables while John chose one of the various sandwiches offered. They found a secluded table further away from anyway else and sat down there. John picked off the tomatoes from his food and gave them to Brian who took them with an eyeroll.

“We can look for some after class. I’m done earlier than you, so I can drop by Roger’s and Fred’s to borrow Rog’s car. We can drive to the junkyard to look for more stuff, too, if you want to.” 

John’s smile was almost blinding, his eyes crinkling up in the way that was so unique to him. Brian was so incredible in love with this man. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was to have him in his life. 

“That would be great!” 

  
+

“And then we have to… connect this wire here?” 

Brian frowned, quickly looking between the blueprint in the book and the actual amp to find out what exactly he was doing. John shuffled over to him, hooking his chin over his shoulder to check what he was doing. 

“No, no, you connect it here. See? The line goes along here.” 

“Oh, yeah, that makes more sense.” 

They were in their kitchen, the tarpaulin covering the table but it was barely visible beneath their components, books, blueprints and notes. John had carefully cleaned and sorted all the things they found and together, they had worked out a plan on how they wanted to handle the whole thing.

Building an amp wasn’t easy as it proved but Brian had built a guitar before and John was the best electronic engineer he knew. 

Their progress was slow because, as it turned out, electronics from dumpsters tend to not work so well. And between classes, practice, gigs and heir part-time jobs it was hard to find the time to tinker at the amp in the first place. Most of the days they were happy when they could get a full night’s sleep. 

They were making progress, though. In just a little bit over a month, they managed to assemble the circuit board, install the tube sockets and pilot light into the chassis as well as well as the power transformer. They were pretty proud of themselves. 

There was still a lot to do though. 

They still didn’t have all the pieces they needed and so they kept checking dumpsters and junkyards and thrift stores for anything they could use. Brian was no stranger to using something in a way it wasn’t intended for initially. 

  
+

Still, it took two more months until they could bring their prototype amp to a practice. 

“Is that your little project?” Roger asked, gently nudging the amp with his foot. 

“Hey, leave it alone.” John hissed, slapping his calf.

Roger stick his tongue out at him and Brian smacked him upside the head when he passed him. He made an indignant sound at that, swatting at the guitarist but missing him by a tiny bit much to his chagrin. 

“Let the science boys tinker, blondie! It’s what they do. Boys, show us what you made.” 

John chuckled as he set up the amp and Brian got his guitar ready, more than thrilled to finally test it. He played one riff, listening intently to how it sounded. 

It was off, something not sounding quite right yet but he could hear the potential behind it and it was way different from what normal amps did for his guitar. He saw John’s face light up, a wide grin appearing his face. Brian couldn’t help but smile back. 

Immediately, they lost themselves into plans on how they could fix it, how they could make it even better, talking over each other in excitement while Roger and Freddie exchanged confused looks. 

“Is this good?” Freddie asked, peering over their shoulders to look at the amps. 

“Yes!” They replied in unison and Freddie laughed, clapping them both on the shoulder. 

Roger gave them a thumbs up before they returned to their practice session and went over one of their new songs Freddie had written. Brian and John exchanged a look, knowing that they would go to the electronic shop after the session was over to find the last missing pieces. Brian had gotten his paycheck from his teaching job a week ago so they had some money to spent. 

Maybe then their project would be finished soon. It would be amazing. 

  
+

It was the first time they used their Deacy Amp in a concert and both Brian and John were on edge. They had tested the amp several times and it was what they wanted it to be and it gave his guitar an amazing sound. They hadn’t used it on stage, though, and both were nervous and excited at the same time. There was a lot that could go wrong but they were positive it would work. 

“It’s gonna work.” Roger assured Brian for what had to be the tenth time. “You guys are geniuses. The amp won’t fail.” 

They went on stage, Freddie in his usual, flamboyant gear, the rest of them marginally less glittery. Brian and John exchanged one last look before they focused on their music. 

The amp didn’t fail. It worked perfectly, giving them the sound they had been looking for. 

Brian could barely wait until they made it off the stage to pull John into a kiss, pulling him close, both of them laughing and giggling. They stumbled into the wall of the changing room. 

“Fucking hell, you two, keep it in your pants.”

They didn’t let Roger bother them too much, just moving far enough for their bandmates to get into the room. Brian pressed several short kisses to John’s cheek and the corner of his mouth before pulling back.

“You’re so smart! I love you so much.” He murmured between kisses. “You brought this piece of junk and made it something brilliant!” 

John laughed, eyes crinkling, his hands coming up to cup his face to pull him into another deep kiss. 

“You did a lot, too, you know? Couldn’t have done it without you.” 

“Boys, get changed, we can celebrate your brains at the bar.” 

Reluctantly, they pulled apart but not before sharing another kiss and got ready to celebrate their latest success. 


End file.
